Life matters

Stephen Harrison Special to The Commercial

Thursday

Oct 4, 2018 at 12:07 PMOct 4, 2018 at 1:42 PM

Life matters. That’s God’s original statement because we are created in His image (Genesis 1:27) and after creating mankind He said we were “very good” (Genesis 1:31). You matter to God! Ephesians 2:10 says you are created by God and His very own masterpiece!

That verse goes on to say God had a plan for you. What a good God that created, loves, and plans for us! My three kids are created in His image, loved by Him, and He knows full well the plans He has for them (Jeremiah 29:11).

Every time we found out we were expecting our anticipation and excitement was huge. Would they be boys or girls? Who would they look like? What would we name them? So many questions of hope and joy.

Psalm 139:13-16 says God created our inmost being and knit us together in our mother’s wombs.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made! He made us in the secret and wove us together in the depths, seeing our yet unformed bodies. Think about that: before we had bodies God saw us! Verse 16 says all our days have been ordained by God before one of them came to be.

Another amazing thought! He knew us before we were formed, formed us, and knew our days inside and outside the womb. That sounds like life begins not only at conception but at God’s very thought of us! Jeremiah 1:4-5 tells us, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” God not only considers us valuable in and out of the womb but prior to that as He has us on His mind and heart.

How could anyone, especially a Bible-believing Christian, argue that an embryo becomes a living soul only around the second or third trimester after reading that? When doctors confirmed we were pregnant they didn’t tell us, “Congratulations, you’re going to have a fetus.” I attended a hearing for a man convicted on two accounts of murder — one for a woman and the other for the baby inside of her. Truth is life begins at conception and we all know it.

Call it what it is, abortion is the murder of a human being. Proverbs 24:11-12 tells the believer we must, “Rescue those being led away to death and hold back those staggering toward slaughter.

If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?”

Those are HUGE words! Knowing these words, Christians cannot turn a blind eye and disclaim responsibility by simply saying we didn’t know. We all have heard the statistics: 50,000,000 abortions occur around the world each year; 140,000 abortions daily - 2 every second; 1.5 million occur annually in America — the land of the free — 3 babies every minute. What, if allowed the chance to live, could their lives have brought to this world? One has to wonder.

Eighteen days after conception a baby’s heart begins to beat. Twenty eight days after conception the baby has ears and eyes. Brain waves form at 42 days. Several babies have been born and survived just fine at 12 weeks. Even finding out all of those astounding facts with our advanced technology we still kill babies.

Jane Roe from Roe vs. Wade admitted she never actually had an abortion and the case was the biggest mistake of her life and still we continued killing babies. She came out against abortion and we still killed babies. We, as a nation, have put our fingers in our ears and sang “nana boo boo” as millions of human beings have been led to slaughter. We must pray, act, vote, demand justice, protect, pass laws for, and speak up for the unborn. When God says, “Thou shalt not murder” (Exodus 20:13) we must obey…until every life truly does matter.

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Stephen Harrison is the lead pastor of Family Church at White Hall.

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Editor’s note: Pastors or associate pastors interested in writing for this section may submit articles to pbcnews@pbcommercial.com. Please include your phone number and the name and location of your church or ministry.

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